Visiting Hours

A Chance of Happiness Chapter 12: Visiting Hours

A water battle flew across the room, exploding upon hitting a locker. Some of the other boys in the locker room peered around the corner to see Natsu pacing back and forth.

“N-Natsu you should cal–” Ryo frantically waved his hands.

“Calm down?! After that?!” Natsu threw a punch, leaving a dent in a locker and bruising his hand. “He humiliated me… me! That pathetic, good-for-nothing–”

“What’s going on over here?” The supervisor looked down the aisle to see where all the noise was coming from.

“Nothing, we were just leaving and Ryo tripped and fell. That was probably what you heard.” Isamu explained.

Ryo briefly shrugged in admittance as they all left the locker room. Outside, the three walked with Ryo following behind Natsu and Isamu.

“I swear… that bastard is gonna wish he never came to this school.”

At the faculty office, Jin wandered around looking for the nurse’s office.

“Kaede’s office is next to the faculty office, she’ll patch you up. But I doubt she’ll be too happy about someone coming in on the first day of school.” Jin remembered Tora’s words.

“Why’d she say it like that?”

Upon finding and entering the office, Jin came across a young woman with dark purple hair wearing a lab coat. The woman was clearly distracted, bobbing her head to what looked like music on her computer screen.

“Excuse me?”

She paid Jin no mind, as she continued to listen to her music.

“Um…” Jin took another step forward and waved in an attempt to get her attention. “Excuse me?”

She didn’t move a muscle. As Jin walked over to her he saw her focused expression more clearly. He stood next to her for a moment and looked at her screen to see some kind of anime music video playing before tapping her on the shoulder, snapping her back to reality. The woman frantically paused the video she was watching and straightened herself out, knocking her headphone jack out of her computer and nearly falling out of her chair.

She turned to Jin and put her hands together and quickly bowed. “Sorry! If you’re looking for student services–” The woman paused upon seeing the dried blood on Jin’s face, her expression full of surprise.

Jin sat on the exam table as the woman sat in front of him while she cleaned off his wound.

“But it’s only the first day! What happened?!” The woman placed a piece of gauze over Jin’s wound, taping and securing it.

“I fell.”

“No matter how many times you say that vague and obviously false statement I still won’t believe you.” The woman looked him up and down. “Raise your arms.”

“Why?”

“Seeing as I’m the one currently patching up someone who SOMEHOW managed to get injured enough to come into my office on the first day, questions really aren’t in your wheelhouse right now. Now, raise your arms.”

Jin raised his arms to his side.

“You’re right arms bothering you?”

“Hm? No I–” The woman grabbed his right arm before he could continue. “Ow!” Jin winced as she let go. “Why did you–”

“You raised your left arm higher and your right lacked behind, which means you probably found it uncomfortable to raise that arm any higher.” She got out of her seat and walked over to the freezer, taking out an ice pack. “You gonna tell me who pushed you down?”

Jin looked away.

“Ugh, you boys are always so stubborn.” She slammed the ice pack against Jin’s arm, causing him to wince again. “Hold it there. Whatever your reasons are, just know that the faculty here are here to help. Keep that on for intervals for the rest of the day and stretch in whatever way feels comfortable to you and not straining the arm.”

Jin nodded. “Um…”

“Kaede Nishikawa.”

“Thank you… Nishikawa-sensei.” Jin bowed and began to leave the room.

“Oh, Rento-kun.”

“Yes?”

Jin turned to see Kaede giving him an unsettling smile.

“Show up here again tomorrow and I’ll be sending you out feeling worse than when you came in. Ok?”

“Ok…”

“Good, glad we have an agreement, now, stay out of trouble.” Kaede waved, returning to her desk.

“Was that a threat?” Jin thought as he left the room.

As Jin stepped outside the door, music blared for a brief moment, followed by the slamming of a keyboard and frantic shuffling.

“You heard nothing!”

Jin left school and began his walk home, officially bringing an end to his first day at school.

Jin walked through the door of his home, everything still as clean and organized from when he left.

“I’m home.”

Jin placed his bag on the dining table and took a quick look around before noticing there was a message on the answering machine. He pressed the button and the message played.

“Hey Jin, it’s Dad. Sorry, I probably won’t be home tonight, there’s a lot of work to get done around here. I made sure to stop by the house earlier with groceries so please eat without me. I hope your first day of school went well, I can’t wait to hear about it.” he paused. “One more thing before I go, I wanted to let you know the hospital called me earlier. They said everything went smoothly and not to worry but I know you’re still going to. I already told them you might show up. Visiting hours go until 10pm, and be careful if you’re staying out late. Say “Hi” to her for me, love you son.”

The answering machine beeps and Jin goes upstairs to his room to change. Putting on his all-black attire, he comes back downstairs and cooks himself dinner. After eating, he sets out for the hospital.

Night fell as street lights illuminated his path and stars began to shine across the deep blue sky.

Finally, Jin set foot in the hospital. It was much more lively than what he was used to late at night. Doctors and nurses were still about going back and forth between rooms, several others walking around or simply waiting. He approached the front desk where a young man was filing papers.

The young man looked up, giving Jin a bright smile. “Ah, Jin-kun, they said you might be coming in. How are you doing?”

“Fine, thank you.”

“That’s great to hear. I’m sure your mother will be happy to hear from you. The procedure earlier went off without any issues. Her doctor said her condition is slowly improving, but it will still take some time before she wakes up.”

Jin nodded, showing signs of relief.

“Did you need help finding the room?”

“No.” Jin shook his head. “I know where it is.”

Jin waved to the receptionist as he began to walk down the hospital, finally arriving at a dimly lit room. The occupant sign read, “Urara Rento”. He walked in to see her lying peacefully in the bed, her brown hair neatly combed and a faded scar going from her cheek to chin. Grabbing one of the stools in the room, Jin took a seat next to her.

“Evening, Mom.” Jin smiled. “It’s me again.”

Jin stayed at the hospital until visiting hours ended, catching up with his mother while she slept, finally getting the chance to tell someone about all the crazy things that happened on his first day at school.